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Acer takes on HP with trio of new laptops

Timeline X and Aspire models due in May

Acer has unveiled three laptops which the firm hopes will allow it to
challenge HP in the global sales charts.

The firm is desperately trying to shrug off its bargain basement image with
the launch of the Timeline X, the successor to the thin and light Timeline
series.

Coming in 13.3in, 14in and 15.6in screen sizes, the Timeline X aims to
straddle the portable and desktop replacement segments. The laptop is just 1in
thick, and weighs 1.8Kg to 2.5Kg, suggesting that it is intended to be used on
the go.

Acer claims to have improved the battery life by using an LED display, and
hard drives with lower power draws. A £200 premium will buy a nine-cell battery
offering 12 hours of Wi-Fi enabled usage, the firm said.

The Timeline X comes with CPUs spanning Intel's complete range of Core
offerings, from the i3 330M all the way up to the i7 670, along with 3GB RAM as
standard and hard drive capacities ranging from 250GB to 640GB.

Graphics are provided by AMD's mid-range 5470 or 5650 chipsets. The notebooks
are not intended for gamers, so either chip should be more than enough, and will
provide better performance than integrated offerings from Intel for anything
more demanding than watching YouTube.

The laptop comes in a black brushed aluminium cover, and there are some handy
design touches such as the flush mounted touchpad and a chiclet keyboard.

The Timeline X starts at £600 and will be available in May. An 11in version
is set to be released in July.